Western cyclone., 1887-06-10
STORY OF A LOST DIAMOND.
An Incident which Shows That Circcm-
stantial Evidence Nay Mislead.

Etant1al
A singular story comes from New YORK
qoing to prove the futility OF circumstan-
tial evidence. A welLknoWn gentleman
has apartments in desirable locality. lie
has means sufficient to crafty luxurious
tastes and jog along LIES road comfort
ablv His domestic habit is to partially
dress in the morning and open the windows
of his sleeping rooms for ventilation while
he SIPS his mocha and reads his paper in
another apartment Meanwhile the al
tendant comes and makes up his dressing
room for the day.
One in whom he had the greatest conf
dence recently left his service TO better her
condition. Her departure was so sudden
that in the emergency tie vacancy was
filled without ordinary consideration as to
the applicants qualifications or recon-
mendations. Unfortunately her personal
apDearance was not calculated to impress
her employer fayOrably, and lie uncon-
sciously distrusted her from the day shc
came. However, he discovered nothing TO
Justify his suspicious that she was un-
truthful or dishonest.
The other morning he received most
violent shock, which for short period
threatened grief to the new chambermald.
While the gentleman was indulglng III his
! early siesta the thought flashed through his
| brain that he had left diamond collar but
| ton lying on his dressing case and the SIN
| ister-looking maid would be tempted to ap-
| propriate it if in q peculatlye mood. just
| then he heard her enter thc bedroom to do
! her mornings work. His first impulse was
to rush in and snatch temptation from AeI
view, but On second thought lie made up
| his mind TO put her to the test, lie
said to himself: IF the evil genius
prompts the girl to take the precious
article which | prize as an heirloom, il
will 90 hard with her. Nobody else can
steal it but her if it is missing, and there
will be no trouble recovering the property
and proving her guilt by circumstantial evi
| dence." The maid seemed unusually slow
in making up the room, and the tlmC
dragged heavily on her employers mind
All things have ON ending, and in due
course the girl finished her work and went
out, signalizipg her departure by slammins
the door The gentleman Waited few min
utes lest she should return, and then, con
Guiding that she would not, leapcd to hi
feet and bolted for the bedroom.
Was the diamond collar button gone
No. But the sight that met the owner
gaze brought him to sudden halt. A
he reached the threshold q frightened
monkey skipped nimbly Off the dressing
case with the collar button, and spTang tt
the window-sill, evidently the way by
which the grimacing little thief had en-
tered He gave one glance at the human
occupant OF the room, and disappeared
down the side of the building in the man
ner and with the speed peculiar to hi
hand The gentleman pursued rs far a
he could go, and called vainly to the mon
key to come back with the priceless but
ton. The sparkling diamond apparently
had fascination for the fOurleggcd thief
and, like shreWd robber. it caught Ii
eve when he climbed into the room, 0nt
he grabbed it without looking for othe
treasures on the premises.